Health Facts Cardiovascular Disease

The number one cause of death is cardiovascular disease. There are over 500,000 deaths each year. Most common risk factors include stress, older age, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, and smoking. Inflammation from a variety of causes and certain prescription drugs also have an effect. So what is a heart attack or the medical term, myocardial infarction.? What happens is that there is a slow build up of plaque in the coronary arteries and increases with age. When there is not enough blood flow to the heart the cardiac muscle itself will be deprived of oxygen and this is what will lead to the chest pain. If permanent, damage occurs to the heart then the patient would have had a heart attack. The harder our heart works eg during stress or strenuous physical activity the more oxygen it needs and this may be when symptoms start appearing. Typical symptoms are chest pain and/or chest tightness with or without left arm pain, nausea, dizziness, and fatigue. In the case of diabetics they may not even feel chest pain. If these occur in some combination then immediately call for help. Once a blockage is diagnosed then stents may be placed to relieve symptoms and medications are started such as aspirin and a beta blocker. Some people with disease in multiple vessels may undergo open heart surgery.

In any case it is a complicated disease. There are different types of chest pain or the medical term angina. Some have it with rest and some people with exertion/stress. In a smaller number if cases it is thought to occur when the arteries spasm. Angina is chest pain without permanent damage to the myocardium. Myocardial infarction or heart attack is when permanent damage has been done to the heart.

To prevent build up of cholesterol and plaque in the vessels, lose weight, quit smoking, eat a healthy diet, and good control of chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol are necessary. Other measures that have been suggested are drinking a glass of wine daily, using olive or avocado oil, omega-3 fatty acids, tight control of cholesterol, a Mediterranean diet and very importantly to excercise.